Writer's Guild

Welcome to the Game Informer Writer's Guild. This is the group for users who want to get best out of their website experience. This is a great place to learn the trick of blogging, profile editing and more. You can also easily bookmark the guild at http://

If you are finding this through my blog, then you (hopefully) already know what is happening and can skip this next part.

If you haven't read my blog and are just finding this randomly, then I should probably explain to you what this is.

You see for a while I've been trying to work on my writing. You see I, like many aspiring bloggers, one day want to work in the industry. As such I believe through writing is the best way. I know though that it is tough, and that a lot of effort is needed in order to do this. Henceforth why I started the Writer's Guild Weekly Challenge.

The weekly challenge is a series I am doing to press the limits of my writing, as well as the writing of anyone else who would like to participate. This series will be about focusing on different areas of writing and improving them one at a time. This will include things like reviews, news posts, interviews, and editorials. In order to really press it, and get the most out of these posts there will be restrictions and expectations put on the posts. A lot of the time this will be imposed as a length min/max, but it is not just limited to that. The idea is to improve the way we look at writing and really focus on the writing itself rather than what it is we are writing on.

As is the case though, we do need things to write on. And that is where this thread comes into play.

What I am looking for is suggestions for topics for the editorial blogs. What is it that the community wants to hear me/others talk about? Anything that you can think of is open to be suggested, and I'll try to get to as many of the topics as I can.

Anyways, that is really why this thread is here. For more information you can refer to the blogs themselves, or the the other thread detailing the challenge for that particular week.

Well, I think I can fill both roles. First, for your challenge. Not only would I like to see you actually do your endgame blog, I'd also like to see your thoughts on how games are reviewed today. As for the interviewing, I'd be more than happy to oblige.

Wolf, you know I'm always open to being interviewed at any time. As long as I can take a few days to answer back. I actually would really like that. I've been doing Reader Recap for a While and the member herding I was on was a blast, so I can do that, even in October if you want.

Also as for topics I know Elisha talked about something regarding your thoughts on reviews and how they are reviewed. That would be a cool topic.

First, I think it's a pitfall to ask for suggestions with regard to writing challenges in public forum. I believe it allows the audience to suggest easy things to write about or things that piqué individual interests. Personal suggestion would be to dictate something that falls just outside the norm. Topics that clallenge readers and writers alike. Ultimately, it's your show and you will do. You pease, but as some one who writes frequently on any fronts... Thats just my bit of insight to share from experience with you.

As for being interviewed, I loe interviews - both giving and conducting them. I've given as many as Ive conducted so if you run short of time conducting them, I'm willing to help you in tht area too. I generally make time for the things that interest me and since I virtually work for myself, I don't have a problem giving myself time off to do things (so long as I don't have pending clients or tme sensitive projects).

lol, well I would worry if the topics were weekly. As it stands really opinion blogs where I need a topic will only be about one out of every three or four blogs. And then I'll still be picking the topic so I don't see any issue in taking suggestions. After all if they're good then they're good. If they aren't then I have plenty of ideas.

Thanks to everyone who is open to being interviewed. As I said it would be more as a last resort as when I give the interview blogs I want the people to go out and actually work to get the interviews, but it is always good to have people that can be relied on in a pinch.

I hope you follow me and everyone else who takes on the challenge. I think it'll be a very good thing for the community.

I suggest a "state of the gaming journalism industry" for a topic, how we feel the gaming journalism is doing compared to traditional journalism and also compared to other entertainment journalism. What we would keep if we could and what we would change, that type of stuff. Keep up the great work Dave!

Nooo! Shawn Gordon! His topic is going to get chosen because he's such a bad*** writer!

Seriously BHW, make it fair on us. I don't want to be left in the dust behind him. I may not be as good a writer, but I can write, that's for sure. Give us an equal chance. Although that's probably what you were going to do, can't be too sure, am I write(<--Lol bad humor! get it)?

I will always be open to being interviewed, even thought there is nothing about me to be interviewed. How about we write about our favorite video game? Although, that's a topic that has been written about many times, its still interesting to hear from different writers.

For future ones, I'd love to see writers 1) analyze characters they don't identify with; 2) choose a controversial topic in gaming - preferably one they disagree with- and defend it; 3) review a game that either has few if any user reviews, and analyze its merits in addition to its flaws if it has a particularly low score; 4) critique the effectiveness of the Blog Herding system here. The basic questions being answered would be: is Blog Herding an effective or useful tool for the GIO community? Does it ultimately help improve the quality of blogs and user reviews, or does it worsen the quality? Does it encourage the community to participate or does it foster elitism? Does it offer a diverse example of well-written blogs, or are they biased in favor of a particular topic or approach? Does it need to be improved, or is it perfectly fine in its current state? In this particular challenge, a person must use examples of actual blogs that have or have not been herded *other than their own* in order to support their arguments.

Zen, I like your ideas. I'm especially fond of #3, but that's because I've seen the effects of the kind of hive mind that often goes on with popular reviewers. A game might be mediocre but have amazing graphics and get rave reviews. Or, a brilliant game with smooth mechanics gets passed over for mediocre graphics or because it is released amidst shinier games.